Sami Al-Arian Sentenced To 57 Months In Prison
For Assisting Terrorist Group

WASHINGTON—Sami Amin Al-Arian has been sentenced to 57 months in prison for
conspiring to violate a federal law that prohibits making or receiving
contributions of funds, goods or services to, or for the benefit of the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a Specially Designated Terrorist, the
Department of Justice announced today.

The 57-month prison sentence and three years of supervised release were
imposed at a hearing today in the Middle District of Florida before U.S.
District Court Judge James Moody. The Court also entered a stipulated order of
removal, whereby Al-Arian will be deported from the United States upon
conclusion of service of his term of imprisonment.

Al-Arian was arrested in Tampa, Fla., in February 2003 on a 17-count
indictment, and has been in custody since his arrest. Trial commenced before
Judge Moody on June 6, 2005 and concluded on Nov. 14, 2005. The jury failed to
reach a verdict against Al-Arian on nine counts and acquitted him of eight
counts. On April 14, 2006, Al-Arian pleaded guilty to Count 4 of the
superseding indictment. In exchange for his guilty plea, the government agreed
to drop the remaining counts against him.

In his guilty plea, Al-Arian admitted that, during the period of the late
1980’s and early to mid-1990’s, he and several of his co-conspirators were
associated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He further admitted that he
performed various services for the PIJ in 1995 and thereafter, knowing that the
PIJ had been designated as a Specially Designated Terrorist and that the PIJ
engaged in horrific and deadly acts of violence. Such services included filing
for immigration benefits for individuals associated with the PIJ, hiding the
identities of individuals associated with the PIJ, and providing assistance for
an individual associated with the PIJ in a U.S. court proceeding. At sentencing
today, Judge Moody called Al-Arian a “master manipulator” and a “leader of the
PIJ.”

This case was prosecuted by Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Terry Zitek and
Assistant U.S. Attorney Walter Furr of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the
Middle District of Florida, and Trial Attorneys Cherie Krigsman and Alexis
Collins of the Counterterrorism Section of the Criminal Division. The
investigation was conducted by a task force led by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, with assistance from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
the Internal Revenue Service and state and local law enforcement officials,
among others.